Louise Heathwaite is a British environmental scientist. She is Distinguished Professor in the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Research and Enterprise. She is a hydrochemist working on diffuse environmental pollution, especially the pathways of nitrogen and phosphorus loss from agricultural land to water. In 2004 she was elected as Vice-President of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in recognition of the distinguished contribution she has made to catchment science and to science-policy engagement. In 2017 Heathwaite became the first woman to be elected President of the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA). In July 2021 Heathwaite accepted a ministerial appointment as Chair of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Science Advisory Council, which provides expert advice to the ’Defra Chief Scientific Adviser and helps guide Defra’s scientific priorities and planning. In April 2022 she was appointed to the UK Cabinet Office's Geospatial Commission as an independent commissioner. She was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Scottish Government on Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment from 2012-2017 and was a Council member (ex-officio) on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) from 2012-2017, prior to being appointed to the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) NERC Council from 2018-2021. Heathwaite served on Defra's Science Advisory Council from 2011-17. In December 2023 she was appointed as the Executive Chair of NERC.Heathwaite was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday honours 2018 for services to scientific research and scientific advice to government. On receiving the honour she said, “I love trying to work out what makes things tick and working independently, so research was the only career for me. More so, I want science to be useful and I have been very lucky to have had the opportunity to show how science can help with government policy.” Source: Wikipedia (en)